TOPICS

On October 09, 2025, Ms. Emma Chanlett-Avery, Director of Asia Society Policy Institute, US was invited as a guest speaker for the course titled “Advanced Topics in IR” taught by Dr. Astha Chadha.

The lecture titled “Trump 2.0 and American Foreign Policy: Impacts on Japan-US alliance” focused on the Trump Administration’s decision-making and impacts on the US relations with its partners, as well as its foreign aid programs especially the US-AID . The lecture discussed the issues of US immigration policy, state of political violence in the US and growing strains of isolationism in the US Congress towards fortification of Indo-Pacific alliances, since 2025. 

Ms. Emma’s lecture then discussed the polarization in the US through the cases of the bill, National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the recent draft of National Defense Strategy (NDS)- both of which reflect strategic confusion in the US and its Indo-Pacific strategy. This also raises questions on the future direction of minilaterals involving the US.

The lecture then discussed the US-Japan alliance’s role in reinforcing their mutual alignment on the Ukraine conflict, and the future direction of minilaterals in the Indo-Pacific including the Quad. 

The students engaged with the speaker and asked several questions ranging from domestic politics in Japan and possible influence on US-Japan alliance, future of the Quad in the Indo-Pacific, US policy towards China under the current administration, US immigration policy under Biden and Trump administration, varying perceptions of states like India, Philippines and Vietnam regarding Trump 2.0, as well as US policy towards security in the Taiwan Strait.

The lecture concluded with remarks from the guest speaker about the good questions from the audience and hope for greater US integration into the wider Indo-Pacific security.